


Study your heart

by geminiuchiha



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-07-23 14:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20009455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geminiuchiha/pseuds/geminiuchiha
Summary: Sasuke looked up at Naruto slowly, mistrust in his eyes. “Naruto,” he deadpanned, “We are both embarrassingly single.”Not missing a beat, Naruto grinned back at him. “Yeah. But we could pretend to be dating each other.”-SNS fake dating / modern / college AU hehe.. Slowburn, best friends to lovers :3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this fic wil be updated chapter by chapter every few days to a week! unfortunately, i cant promise regular updates, but i won't keep you all waiting too long! you can find me on tumblr @soughtflower or on twt @nawrutouzumaki :3 hope you enjoy this!

Naruto stuck out his foot, almost sliding off the edge of his seat, trying to reach for Sasuke. Just barely closing the distance, Naruto nudged the others thigh with the toe of his beat up sneaker. And nudged again. And again. His efforts, however, were in vain, as Sasuke resolutely focused on his laptop screen in front of him, seemingly unaffected by Naruto’s prodding. From the other side of the table, Naruto huffed in annoyance, and renewed his efforts, this time truly coming close to falling off his chair in an attempt to kick at Sasuke.

Still not looking away from the monitor in front of him, Sasuke reached down and swatted away Naruto’s foot. “What,” Sasuke whispered through gritted teeth, “do you _want_ , dumbass. We’re in the library.”

Having captured Sasuke’s attention at last, Naruto straightened up and leaned forward, pushing his phone across the table to rest in front of Sasuke. Finally tearing his eyes away from the essay in front of him, Sasuke picked up the phone to read the email on Naruto’s screen.

_‘Call for heterosexual or homosexual monogamous couples for independent student psychology lab study on Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis. Couples are required to have been together romantically for a minimum one month to qualify for experiment parameters. Participants will be rewarded with $25.00 apiece upon successful completion of the study, as funded by the Faculty of Science Department of Psychology Graduate Studies.’_

Sasuke looked up at Naruto slowly, mistrust in his eyes. “Naruto,” he deadpanned, “We are both _embarrassingly_ single.”

Not missing a beat, Naruto grinned back at him. “Yeah. But we could pretend to be dating each other.”

Naruto leant back into his seat, grin still plastered across his face, the assignment in front of him long neglected. “Think about it, Sasuke. We’ve known each other since we were like twelve, and we’re best friends. That’s basically the equivalent of dating, yknow?” 

Sasuke turned his attention back to his essay, staring at the words in front of him without really reading anything. His eyes flicked back to Naruto, who was still looking at him, waiting for a response. “It’s not. It is definitely not the equivalent of dating.”

Naruto snickered. “Maybe not, like, actually the equivalent in real life, but for their experiment or whatever, it’s literally the same. They’ll probably just ask us some questions about each other or things that are like kinda personal or whatever. I’ll lie and say you have great dick game, and it’ll be all good. Psychology experiment: finessed.” Naruto proclaimed. 

Sasuke’s face slipped into a deeper scowl with every word Naruto said. Noticing the grimace on his face, Naruto scrambled to sweeten the deal. “Twenty five bucks a piece, Sasuke. Come on. That’s, like. Twenty burgers. Ten bobas. Twenty five buckaroonies. All we would need to do is answer a couple dumb questions.” Naruto paused, considering Sasuke’s still dark expression. “Come on, Sasuke, I’d never ask anyone else to do this kind of stupid shit with me. I’d never ask anyone else to fake date me. I’m asking YOU,” Naruto all but grovelled, jutting out his bottom lip and clasping his hands together. “Please, Sasuke? Will you fake go out with me?” 

At this, Sasuke turned to look at Naruto again. Head propped up on one hand, he regarded him cooly, his face expressionless, save a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks. Naruto’s heartbeat picked up a bit from the undivided attention, but he ignored it, opting to stare right back into Sasuke’s eyes, hands still clasped in front of him.

“... Fine,” Sasuke relented. Naruto let out a silent cheer, bouncing up and down in his seat, and Sasuke scowled again. “But, if we get found out, this is all on you, dumbass.”

“Don’t you worry about that, it’ll be fineee, Sasuke, believe it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Can you help me edit this already, it’s due tomorrow.”

\---


	2. Chapter 2

That following Friday, instead of being at home ready to knock out and sleep for an uninterrupted 12 hours after a week of constant assignments and deadlines, Sasuke found himself being half dragged through the psych wing of the sciences building. Sasuke looked down, seemingly casual, at his arm, where Naruto was holding onto it with a vice like grip and immediately turned his gaze back up and forwards.

“Okay, we’re almost here I think,” Naruto whispered. He turned his bright eyes to meet Sasuke’s dark, piercing ones. “You remember the backstory, right?”

Sasuke pursed his lips, and rolled his eyes slightly. Naruto eyes flicked down to look at the line of Sasuke’s mouth, before quickly glancing up again. “It’s not that hard to remember, dumbass,” Sasuke whispered back, internally chiding himself for always letting himself be dragged into Naruto’s disastrous antics. He was always so bad at saying no to him.

Naruto’s face broke out into a cheshire grin, full of mischief. “Okay, well, here goes nothing then.” The blond turned to face forwards again, the tips of ears tinged pink, and dropped his hand from Sasuke’s forearm to grip his hand. Naruto could feel the blood rushing up his neck, and for a second a rare moment of doubt flicked through his mind. But Sasuke’s hand was cool in his grip, and all it took was for Sasuke to shift his hand a bit to hold Naruto’s more comfortably, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the doubt dispersed as quickly as it came.

As they kept walking down the hall, just a turn away from the room of the study, Naruto’s thoughts were flitting about. The butterflies in his stomach still hadn’t settled, but he didn’t think too much of it. It was just Sasuke, after all. Sasuke, who had been his best friend since elementary school. Sasuke, who knew Naruto better than he knew himself. Sasuke, who always grumbled and argued with Naruto, but was always there for him. Naruto had plenty of friends, especially since entering high school and getting his class clown act a bit more under control, and, at the risk of sounding conceited, he had his fair share of admirers as well. But, as corny as it was, Naruto had never felt the need to be in a relationship, because everything he could really need, he found in Sasuke. Minus the actual romance, of course. He had gone on a few dates here and there, but he never found himself really enjoying them. Naruto always got bored easily, and dates with strangers and acquaintances were his Achilles heel. It wasn’t that he couldn’t stand the company of anyone else though, he had actually became close friends with a handful of the people he had gone on one off dates with. Rather, it was just that he could barely bring himself to sit still through an hour long dinner, specifically if it was a date. In contrast, Naruto could spend an entire day chatting Sasuke’s ear off and never get bored. Hell, he could be trapped in a room with Sasuke for the rest of his life, and he wouldn’t get bored. Sasuke might kill him with a pair of shoelaces out of pure aggravation, but at the very least, Naruto wouldn’t get bored. So he found it easier to just not date, because he always had Sasue for company. And Sasuke never expressed any interest in dating either; in fact, he always seemed to avoid the topic if it came up. So they were comfortable together.

Obviously, there was no one else Naruto would’ve asked along for such an absurd idea. But it had seemed fun, Naruto had been bored, and he loved to drag Sasuke into mischief with him. And, of course, the bonus pocket money wouldn’t hurt. Naruto obviously wasn’t nervous about pretending to be dating Sasuke. Obviously. He was just worried about pulling off this stunt, which, in retrospect, was probably way more effort than worth for $25. 

Naruto snuck a glance to his left. Sasuke had a resolutely blank look on his face, indecipherable to anyone who wasn’t Naruto. A smile tugged at the corner of Naruto’s lips as he recognized the look of nervous trepidation mingled with excitement hidden behind Sasuke’s carefully maintained composure. Naruto knew that look all too well; it was the look Sasuke always wore before they did something stupid just for the hell of it.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Sasuke’s voice pulled Naruto out of his reverie, as the pair stopped in front of a door.

“This is it,” Naruto echoed, grin stretching full force over his features. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, a small smirk playing at the sides of his lips. 

“Let’s get this over with, then,” Sasuke said, forcing out an exaggerated sigh.

As the pair stepped into the room, fingers still loosely linked together, they were greeted by an enthusiastic, yet rather dishevelled, bespectacled woman.

“Ah, you two must be Naruto and Sasuke, am I right?” the woman exclaimed.

The pair nodded, exchanging pleasantries with the graduate student. 

“I’m Shiho, nice to meet you both. So, you two have been dating for over a month, right?” she asked as she shuffled some papers around on her desk.

Naruto swallowed, quickly casting a glance at Sasuke, before confirming. “Yeah, we’ve been together for a little over a month and a half now. We’ve known each other for a long time before that, but we only started dating pretty recently, I guess. We haven’t really told anyone about it yet, though,” Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head with the hand that wasn’t crushing Sasuke’s in his iron grip.

Shiho smiled at them, as she continued to thumb through the stacks of files on her desk. “Do you mind if I ask why you haven’t told anyone about your relationship yet? Is it because of… an unaccepting environment?” 

Naruto shook his head lightly, not quite knowing what to say, as Sasuke tilted his head slightly. Sasuke answered this time. “In part, yes. But mostly, we’re just enjoying the privacy for now.” 

Something about Sasuke’s answer made a feeling akin to anger twist and curl in Naruto’s gut. Naruto was bi, and had always dated guys and girls and those who didn’t identify as either; being the adopted son of two wonderful dads, his parents had never had anything discouraging to say about his preferences. But he knew that Sasuke didn’t have the same luxury. Naruto had been the first person Sasuke had ever come out to. His father was traditional and rather conservative, and Sasuke had confided in Naruto that he hadn’t come out to his family, nor did he plan to. _‘Unless I started... actually dating the love of my life, like I had a real relationship with someone I couldn’t live without... I don’t think I would ever tell them,’_ Sasuke had said, with a sad smile on his face. That had been almost five years ago, during their sophomore year of highschool, but the memory burned clearly in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. It was something that always saddened him, and he had built up a mountain of resentment towards Sasuke’s father for indirectly keeping Sasuke from expressing who he really was. It was anger on Sasuke’s behalf, even though Sasuke himself had never spoken seriously about it since.

“Hey, you okay?” Sasuke murmured under his breath, eyebrows creased worriedly, pulling Naruto from his thoughts once again. 

“Yeah. Yeah, m’fine, just zoned out for a sec,” Naruto mumbled back. He looked back up to see the frazzled grad student had finally found the paper she had been looking for. 

“I just need you both to sign this right here, agreeing that you’re willing participants in this research study and you’re okay with the results of this study being published, without disclosing any of your names or personal information or anything of course,” Shiho said as she brandished the form and a pen in their direction. As Naruto and Sasuke obediently signed the form, she continued. “I briefly explained the study in the email when you confirmed you would be participating, but would you like me to explain again?” Sasuke nodded, a pleasant smile on his face that Naruto knew was masking a smirk borne of the slightly nefarious thrill of possibly butchering this poor woman’s thesis research.

“Great!” she exclaimed, “So, basically, we’re going to be retesting an old theory with a different experiment. It's called the empathy-altruism hypothesis; back in the day, they tested it by reading brain MRI scans and such while the study administrator gave electrical shocks to a person and someone they’re in a romantic relationship with or someone they didn’t know, and basically they would see the difference in brain activity.” Seeing the wide eyed look on Naruto’s face, she quickly continued. “Of course, I’m not going to be zapping either of you today, don’t worry about that! We don’t have the equipment for that hahaha… Oh, and it would be unethical to conduct an experiment like that, of course. Instead, I’ve come up with a set of pretty innocuous survey questions, and hopefully when we put all the answers together, we’ll get some conclusive evidence between all the tested groups. Anyways, are we all set to go then?” 

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Naruto, who bit down on his tongue trying to hold down a laugh, instead turning towards Shiho and nodding.

“Great! If you two would just sit right here across from me, we can get started.”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be up on wednesday! pls lmk what u think so far! :3


	3. Chapter 3

“So, to start off, let’s just get some base questions out of the way,” Shiho smiled innocently “Have you two had any sexual relations since the beginning of your relationship? And if so, when was the most recent of these?”

Beside him, Sasuke let out a loud cough which almost sounded like a yelp. Naruto’s eyes were wide; spluttering, he quickly answered “N-no, no we haven’t really… No.” They had been prepared to be asked a question like this but still the suddenness caught the pair off guard and Naruto felt as if his face were seconds away from catching on fire from how much he was blushing. No matter how much he had joked about it before it was still a bit jarring being asked by a stranger if he’d had sex with his best friend before.

“Oh, alright. Next question then. How did you two meet?”

This one was easier. The two exchanged a quick look, silently agreeing that Sasuke would answer this time. They had decided to stick to the truth for most of their backstory just because it would be easier to keep their facts straight.

“We met right at the end of elementary,” Sasuke started. “I had just moved into town, my dad had moved jobs and come here, so I was new in class. I didn’t know a lot of people and I wasn’t the friendliest kid so I would just sit by myself usually. Naruto was a loudmouth kid and he came up to me one day and… Well, he says someone accidentally pushed him, but I still don’t believe it. Either way, he fell forwards and kissed my poor, innocent eleven year old ass straight on the mouth,” Sasuke laughed lightly. Naruto groaned beside him. Sasuke loved telling that story for some reason. Sasuke continued. “That was right near the end of the school year, and after that, we ended up going to the same middle school together. We got put into a group together for homeroom and Naruto became obsessed with me--” Naruto cut Sasuke off with a light shove to his shoulder.

“I was NOT obsessed with you,” Naruto grumbled, “I was obsessed with being as cool as you. There’s a difference.”

Sasuke laughed again, eyes twinkling a bit as he looked over at Naruto. As if they were transported back to sixth grade, Naruto felt a little bit starstruck all over again. “Sure, sure,” Sasuke conceded, “Basically, we just ended up becoming really close friends over the years. We went to different high schools, but Naruto forced my antisocial ass to keep in touch. And now we’re in the same year here at uni. Different programs, but I see him so often it doesn’t feel like it.”

Naruto smiled despite himself. Being reminded that he and Sasuke had such an inseparable bond, especially by Sasuke himself, brought him an inexplicable kind of joy.

Shiho smiled genially as she nodded along to Sasuke’s answer. “That’s wonderful, that’s really so great. Very good that you guys have such a strong base at your relationship, great stuff for the study. So how is it that you two started dating?”

Sasuke’s eyes drifted over to Naruto’s. It was his turn in the hot seat, and this time he would actually have to make something up. They had decided on their cover story already, of course, and Naruto had to say, it wouldn’t be that far of a reach for them.

“We, uh,” Naruto coughed lightly, “well… We went on our first date as a dare. Sasuke’s friend had dared us to go on a date together and we did and it felt… Nice… I suppose… It was a bit like our usual hangouts but then we just kept… Going on dates and then after a couple weeks started calling it dating. Not that we told his friend that, or anyone else for that matter, but to us… We were dating. That dare was about two months ago and then… yeah, hahah...” 

It wasn’t a complete lie. Suigetsu, Sasuke’s roommate and one of his only good friends outside of Naruto, actually had dared them to go on a date. And both Naruto and Sasuke never said no to a dare, so they had actually almost gone through with it. Except Sasuke had called him right before the date to cancel, saying he had come down with a bad migraine, which was rather convenient since Naruto had been debating whether to cancel or not cause of the massive stomach ache that had flared up an hour before they were supposed to go anyways. Suigetsu hadn’t really bothered them about it since, so Naruto felt that both of them had been reluctant to bring it up since, the unfinished dare stinging at their (arguably childish) egos, until Sasuke had suggested it as their ‘origin story’ when they were coming up with a plan for this latest escapade.

Shiho laughed a bit. “Oh my, that’s one to tell the grandkids for sure, don’t you two sound like a riot. I get the feeling you two are a pair of troublemakers, huh?”

Sasuke smirked. “He’s the troublemaker, I’m just the one that gets him out of trouble.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes in Sasuke’s direction.  _ ‘What a load of shit,’ _ he thought to himself, biting down a laugh. More like, Sasuke enabled Naruto and then stood back and watched when he got his ass handed to him (usually by Sakura). Well, maybe that was doing Sasuke a bit of a disservice. He didn’t just watch, he laughed while it all went down too.

Sasuke looked over, reading the look on Naruto’s face easily, as if the words were written on his forehead. Instead of looking apologetic, his smirk just deepened and he reached out and poked him in the forehead, watching Naruto’s expression turning from petulant to indignant.

Shiho started talking again, beginning to explain the next set of questions, and Naruto wrenched his eyes away from Sasuke to look at her and nod along. He glanced back at Sasuke a couple times to find that the latter still had his gaze trained on him, a small smile playing at his lips, disregarding of the grad student droning away about experimental controls in front of them.

Maybe it was the thought that the actual experiment was starting now, but every time he met Sasuke’s eyes, the butterflies that had been stirring in his gut the entire afternoon started swirling up their biggest storm yet.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be up friday! please let me know in the comments or on tumblr/twt what you think of the fic so far!


	4. Chapter 4

Almost an hour after they started, the grad student finally wrapped up the interview, thanking them for participating. Naruto stood up to stretch, groaning slightly, stiff from sitting still for so long. Sasuke cast him a look, a smug little smile on his face. Naruto mirrored the expression, rather pleased with the entire ordeal. The later questions had been innocent and abstract enough that they didn’t have any trouble answering them. Hopefully, they hadn’t messed up the experiment too much, but Naruto expected that even if they didn’t give the answers the study wanted then they would just discount them as outliers or what not.

“Oh, just hold on a minute you two! I almost forgot, I should give you guys the promised reward, hahah!” Shiho said, picking up the phone. Sasuke stood up, walking over to Naruto, casually snaking his arm around Naruto’s before tucking his hands into his coat pockets. The butterflies that had mostly settled down during the interview suddenly struck up a storm in Naruto’s stomach again to his own surprise. Naruto tried to quiet them by reminding himself that the worst of it was over, that they had already sold the deal so there was nothing left to be nervous about, but to no avail. Just then, whoever the grad student had dialed had picked up.

“Hi. Yeah, could you bring over the compensations and grab these files from me? Thanks, Ino.”

Sasuke and Naruto both froze at the same time. Both of them whipped their heads around to look at each other, eyes wide. Before the thought  _ ‘busted’ _ could even cross Naruto’s mind, the door swung open and Ino sauntered in carrying two envelopes in her hand. Ino looked at Naruto and Sasue who were rooted to their spots and froze. 

Shiho, oblivious to it all, held out a folder in Ino’s direction. “Here you go, Ino. Please give these gentlemen their pay and be headed on your way, I have another couple scheduled to come in fifteen minutes.”

Wordlessly, Ino grabbed the folder from her and held out the envelopes in their directions, which Naruto gingerly plucked and stuck into his pocket. Ino turned, ponytail whipping dangerously close to their faces, and lead the way out the door.

The minute the door closed behind them Ino turned on the pair. “Is this one of your dumbass jokes, Naruto?” Ino accused, eyes narrowed and threatening. Naruto gaped at Ino, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, struggling to come up with a defense. After all, she was dangerously close to the truth, and who knew what she’d do to them if she found out they had messed up a study she was apparently involved in, all for the sake of a couple bucks. It really was their bad luck that it was Ino of all people here, although they probably shouldn’t be so surprised considering she was the star student of the undergrad psych department. 

Before Naruto could come up with an answer that wouldn’t get their asses kicked, he heard Sasuke’s low voice from beside him.

“It’s not,” Sasuke said, his voice sounding a bit choked, eyes trained on the ground in front of them.

“What?” Ino seemed caught off guard by Sasuke’s answer. Usually when they got caught in the middle of some stupid stunt, Sasuke had absolutely no issue letting Naruto take the heat for it, and in fact encouraged it.  _ ‘Your idea, not mine,’ _ he always liked to say, and everyone who knew the pair of chaotic idiots knew it was true, too. 

Sasuke looked up at Ino, his face aflame and the back of his neck and ears burning redder than his favourite tomato soup. “It’s not one of his jokes. We’ve been dating for a month now, we just didn’t tell anyone.” Sasuke’s tone was confident and steady, a vivid contrast to his obvious blush, his voice not betraying that he was lying through his teeth to keep their asses, especially Naruto’s, out of trouble.

Ino looked between Sasuke and Naruto and then back to Sasuke. Naruto was still gaping, but this time at Sasuke, his mouth hanging open in surprise. 

“Are you playing me right now?” Ino questioned, suspicion still lurking in her tone. “You guys are actually dating? You, Sasuke, finally got up the nerve to ask him out? And Mr. Loud Mouth over here didn’t immediately tell every single person we know? For a full month?”

Sasuke’s face burned brighter red at Ino’s comment, but he still replied steadily. “Month and a half now. And, yeah. I asked him not to tell anyone, cause I didn’t really feel like getting interrogated by everyone I know,” he said, glaring at Ino for added effect. This seemed to at least have some impact. Between the two of them, neither Sasuke or Naruto were habitual liars, although Naruto often tried and failed miserably to give wild excuses when things went sideways. But Sasuke never even attempted to lie, always eager to own up to his own mischief or just let Naruto take the fall for some of the dumber stunts, so Ino supposed she didn’t have much reason to doubt him. Not to mention, the fierce blush on Sasuke’s face was the same as the one that was plastered on Naruto’s still slightly agape face.

Finally finding the words lodged in his throat, embarrassingly aware of how red his face must be, Naruto stuttered out: “Don’t-- Don’t tell anyone about us. Not yet, at least. We’re, uh. We’re… Uhh, I mean we just need some time before, like, everyone else finds out,” he finished, lamely.

Ino raised her eyebrows at them. “There’s no way I’m not telling Sakura about this. The two lovestruck idiots finally got together. But I promise, we won’t tell anyone else.”

Naruto just blinked at her, still in a daze from the unexpected turn of events.

“I’m not an idiot,” Sasuke grumbled. Then, after a moment of consideration he dropped his hand down to grab Naruto’s. “See you, Ino,” Sasuke mumbled, as he dragged the uncharacteristically mute Naruto away with him.

“See ya, you lovebirds! Remember to use protection!” Ino called out from behind them, her laughter fading into the background as the pair quickly walked away.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter probably on monday!!! but im v busy so who knows :(


	5. Chapter 5

Five minutes later, Sasuke and Naruto were still rigidly speed walking away in no particular direction, hands still linked with each other in a vice like grip. They rounded the corner and into a hall of study rooms, when Naruto finally snapped out of his trance like state and dragged Sasuke into one of the unoccupied rooms.

Closing the door behind him, Naruto finally let go of Sasuke’s hand. The latter walked a couple paces away, staring resolutely at the wall opposite him as if refusing to face Naruto.

“Oh my god, Sasuke. What the fuck. I don’t know whether to punch you in the face or get down on my knees and thank you,” Naruto said, still slightly breathless.

Sasuke let out a single dry chuckle, still not facing Naruto and not saying anything.

Now that they were finally alone in private and Naruto could finally process what had just happened, his mind that had been a flurry of wild thoughts was suddenly blank.

“So…” he started awkwardly. Not knowing how to finish the sentence he trailed off, standing there in silence, staring at the back of Sasuke’s still flushed neck. He really had no idea how to feel about this entire predicament he had inadvertently landed themselves in. All he knew was that the butterflies in his stomach had evolved into pterodactyls and were making a massacre of his insides at the moment. Naruto felt lightheaded, nervous excitement and trepidation coursing through his veins. 

“So,” Naruto started again. “I guess we’re dating now, huh?” A nervous laugh slipped out of Naruto and Sasuke stiffened, still not turning around. 

“...Man,” Naruto quipped, “Sakura’s gonna be so mad we didn’t tell her right away.” This drew out another dry chuckle from Sasuke, but still, Naruto had yet to take a good look at the expression on his face. 

“I, uh. Thanks, Sasuke, for covering my ass back there with that. Well, both our asses I guess. But it was mostly my ass, you know. So, thanks. And… I don’t really. Mind. What you said. Y'know, in case you were worried about that or something, like I think it would be fine to just… pretend we’re dating for a bit. It won’t hurt. We can just figure out how to deal with this… as it goes.” Naruto stuttered all of this our with his eyes trained steadily on the ground in front of him, too embarrassed to look up. Sasuke, however, finally visibly relaxed at his words. 

Suddenly, Naruto’s eyes got wide and his head snapped up again. “Unless you’re uncomfortable with it? We don’t have to pretend if you don’t want to, that was stupid of me, I don’t even know why I was thinking so long term with the whole fake dating thing, hahaha… It’s fine we can just say we immediately broke up after seeing Ino today or something, it’s fine, we don’t have to pretend about anything if you don’t want to.” Naruto’s face was burning as he let out all his words in an uninterrupted stream, his words almost indecipherable from the speed at which he said them. Finally, Sasuke turned around to face Naruto, the latter's breath catching in his chest. 

Sasuke’s face was schooled into neutrality, his thoughts unreadable even to Naruto for once. Slowly, he cracked a small smirk. “Idiot. If we conveniently ‘broke up’ now, it would be way too obvious and Ino would kick your ass doubly. Not to mention, I’m worried she might actually tell her grad student supervisor and we’d get in some major academic shit.” Sasuke was very matter of fact, his tone betraying no emotion despite the persistent blush dusting his cheeks. Naruto’s insides felt like they were being mixed up in a blender, as the unbidden thought of how handsome Sasuke looked even under the harsh fluorescents fought its way to the surface before he quickly shoved it back down again. After a moment's pause, Sasuke continued. “I don’t mind pretending, either. At least for a bit... We got ourselves into our dumbest mess yet so we might as well ride it out,” Sasuke shrugged. 

For some reason, Naruto felt a wave of relief flood through him. Before he could stop himself, a wide grin had unfurled across his face again. “Okay, then. I guess we’re official now, boyfriend.”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh heh... i wanna apologize for the short chapters and spaced out updates TT ive had wayyyyy less time to write than i anticipated.... i may not be able to update for a couple weeks cause of work and a trip i have planned but promise that the next time i update itll be way longer more plot heavy chapters!!


	6. Chapter 6

The moment Naruto stepped through the front door, his phone started buzzing furiously in his pocket. He dug it out and stared at the id flashing Sakura’s name in capital letters, inwardly groaning. He had just barely gotten home in one piece, his head so muddled from the mess he had gotten himself into this time that he had accidentally ran a red light. And now he had to deal with Sakura. 

He let the phone ring one more time before giving in, and raised it to his ear. Before he could even get a single word out, Sakura began rattling away. 

“FINALLY. You FINALLY start dating Sasuke and you don’t even tell me? I thought we were best friends Naruto, what the fuck. You just start dating our other best friend and you don’t tell me? NEITHER of you tell me? You know, I called you first cause I bet Sasuke’s not even gonna pick up, like, I expected this from him. But YOU TOO, Naruto? You start dating Sasuke, your old self proclaimed rival, your long time best friend, MY old obsession based crush before I realized both of us were gay, and also my best friend… And you don’t tell me. Let’s not forget the fact that he’s also been the love of your life basically since you met him, except you’ve been way too in denial about it to acknowledge it, until now apparently, and now that you have acknowledged it you DIDN’T TELL ME. For a full TWO MONTHS AT THAT.”

Sakura kept complaining into Naruto’s ear, with the occasional “uhhh” from Naruto slipped in as he tried to get a word in edgewise. 

“Anyways,” Sakura finally calmed down a bit, “I am so fucking happy for you two. It’s been a long time coming and I really hope things work out for you guys in the long run.”

Naruto sighed softly. ‘Finally’ this and ‘longtime coming’ that. It was making Naruto start to doubt his actions over the last however many years; what kind of impression was he giving off that everyone thought he wanted date his best friend? Moreover, the guilt of lying to Sakura was starting to creep up on him. He had no idea why she was so animated about him and Sasuke. 

“Sakura… It’s not serious. We’re not really that serious yet, I don’t know. We’re just being casual about it. Who knows, maybe we’ll break up next week and just go back to being friends. That’s why we didn’t tell anyone until now I guess.”

“Hm.. Would you be able to? Just go back to being friends?” Sakura inquires from the other end, sounding doubtful, and maybe a little disappointed. 

Naruto went quiet for a moment. Of course he could go back to being friends with Sasuke, they hadn’t ever stopped being just friends, since this whole thing was a con! But then, Naruto hesitated. Sasuke’s whole demeanour had changed since they decided to take the whole ‘fake dating’ route. Granted, Naruto had only stuck around a few more minutes after they had decided on their makeshift plan and certain rules on who they could and could not tell, so as to carry out this farce of theirs, but the entire time Sasuke had seemed more detached. Usually, their rythym felt natural; being with Sasuke was always like breathing, but all of a sudden things felt off axis. It was like an unbearable awkwardness had permeated between them, and now Sasuke was making any excuse not to look at Naruto and Naruto found himself unable to look away from Sasuke. At Sakura’s words, the tendrils of fear began to twist around Naruto’s gut. 

“I don’t know, Sakura. I hope so.” Naruto responded quietly. 

Sakura must have noticed the shift from fondly exasperated to legitimately worried in Naruto’s tone, because she was silent for a moment. After a pause, Sakura’s tone was back to commanding. 

“You want my advice? Don’t treat your relationship casually. Sasuke may be going along with the whole casual schtick for now, but you might actually be hurting his feelings. I know he really, really cares about you, Naruto. Don’t take those feelings too casually, cause if you hurt him too bad, he’ll cut you off. Just… take the relationship seriously. I know you care about him just as much, if not more, so make sure you show him that, okay? And then from there you can see how it goes. Just don’t be afraid to show him you love him.”

Naruto just hummed hollowly into the phone. Wrapping up the conversation, he hung up and trudged into the kitchen, where Iruka was chopping vegetables for dinner. 

“Hey, Naruto. How were classes today?”

“Yeah…” Naruto responded absentmindedly as he sat down at the table, dragging his bag alongside him by the strap, as Sakura’s words echoed through his mind. 

Iruka cast him a glance. “So… I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, Naruto, but… What were you just talking about with Sakura? Are you dating someone?”

This time the words registered in Naruto’s mind and he looked up at Iruka. Before he could decide on how to explain the situation to his dad, Iruka kept speaking. 

“Are you dating Sasuke?”

Naruto let out few, rather loud, coughs in surprise. He was sure he hadn’t mentioned Sasuke by name when he was talking to Sakura, and there was no way Iruka’s hearing was  _ that  _ good that he had heard what Sakura has been saying through the phone, so why was Sasuke the natural conclusion? 

Reading the look of surprise on Naruto’s face, Iruka laughed lightly and shrugged, turning back to his vegetables. “You and Sasuke always just seem to gravitate towards each other. Or rather, like your worlds revolve around each other. I always thought that if you were to ever finally commit to dating someone, it would be him. So how long have you been dating?”

Naruto swallowed, not knowing what to say. In all his years, constantly boasting his loudmouth reputation, even taking pride in the fact that he would probably be able to talk a super villain out of his long plotted revenge, never had Naruto been more speechless than he had consistently been today. 

The problem was, Naruto and Sasuke has decided that if they were to get exposed to either of their parents, they would tell them the truth. It was mostly a clause for Sasuke’s benefit, and neither of them had planned to let this get so out of hand that it would reach their parents anyways. But here Naruto was, merely an hour or so later, no doubt about to be faced with Iruka’s resounding disappointment at his latest mess. 

“Uhh…” Naruto started, “Well, like. So, yknow how I just like. Mess around for kicks? Wait, not mess around, I mean, like, uh.” Naruto’s face was burning bright red. “I mean just like. Cause trouble, is how you’d put it, I guess. And, um, like sometimes I drag Sasuke into these things too, yknow?” 

At this point, Iruka put down the chopping knife he had been using and turned to look at Naruto, an inquiring and slightly apprehensive look flitting across his face. With a sigh, Naruto explained the situation to Iruka in as much detail as he could spare, only skipping over the little bits where looking at Sasuke too hard made Naruto’s heart pound. By the end of it, Iruka’s face was a marvel of kaleidoscopic expressions, ranging from annoyed to disappointed to dumbfounded, and maybe even the slightest bit entertained. 

“Naruto… What have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“I know right,” Naruto groaned. “That’s what I keep saying to myself, too.” 

Iruka looked thoughtful for a bit. “Are you sure Sasuke is okay with this?”

“I mean. Yeah, I mean, he said he was okay with it, yknow? Like, he was the first to say it anyways, I was totally ready to get my ass— sorry, sorry, my After School Snacks beat by Ino, and then later he said he was fine with just faking and riding this whole mess out but, I don’t know… I know Sasuke, and it seems like he’s feeling kind of weird about this. But I mean I am too, who would want to date Sasuke, pretend or not? Haha…” Naruto trailed off weakly. Iruka cast him a knowing look that Naruto didn’t quite know how to decipher, but he had a nagging suspicion it meant that he was only fooling himself. 

“Naruto,” Iruka said as he turned back to his cutting board again, “I think you should ask Sasuke out on a date.”

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter..... maybe next week? maybe earlier? maybe later???


End file.
